


Tough love

by ArbitraryRambunctious (SheepOutTetradecagon)



Series: Seungchuchu week 2k17 [1]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Accidental Kiss, Day 1, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Pets, Seungchuchu Week 2017, bonus prompt: love is friendship set on fire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-22
Updated: 2017-05-22
Packaged: 2018-11-03 10:07:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10965060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SheepOutTetradecagon/pseuds/ArbitraryRambunctious
Summary: Phichit never had anything against dogs. In fact, he would consider himself a dog person. Alas, it is a bit hard to love your boyfriend's pet after it has tried to eat your hamsters.





	Tough love

**Author's Note:**

> I blame this on Saria and the seungchuchu squad, who is behind most of dog related parts, I am sorry for this mess ugh >.>;;
> 
> Thanks to [gliss](http://archiveofourown.org/users/glissendo/pseuds/glissendo) for betaing

There is a huge pile of both pros and cons that comes with sharing a flat with Seung-Gil Lee. For the most part, the pros outweigh the cons, which makes sense since choosing to live with someone for the sake of the cons would be stupid, even for Phichit. He might be a very tolerant person, but there are limits to what he can handle.  

In the beginning, he doesn’t notice the cons all that much. Maybe he’s just too excited about being able to share a flat with the person who has through a series of unexpected events managed to claim the special place in Phichit’s heart reserved for best friends. Not to say Yuuri isn’t his best friend anymore, but after Viktor happened, Phichit’s been seeing less of him. They still skype every now and then, but frankly, Phichit is a social creature. He needs his best friend to be available for when he finds something new to yell about.

People can say what they want about Seung-Gil, but the new arrangement work out nicely. They split the costs between them, Seung-Gil has easy access to the homerink of his new coach and Phichit doesn’t need to feel alone. In other words it’s a win-win situation. Or, it is for the most part, if you exclude the goddamn cons.

The majority of them Phichit can ignore, he is not unreasonable. Of course, finding empty cartons of milk in the fridge, or enough half-eaten plates of food to feed a small army, can get annoying. Seung-Gil is a focused person to the point where he, paradoxically enough, becomes forgetful. It is fortunately, in Phichit’s opinion, a part of his unique charm.

What’s less charming is the overgrown beast he calls a dog. Phichit doesn’t care what Seung-Gil says. That creature has evil intent.

The first time it happened, almost had Phichit packing his things and leaving. Maybe he’s just too used to dogs being innocent creatures. Letting his hamsters run free outside their cage was never a problem in Detroit, and to be honest, Phichit isn’t the biggest fan of keeping his pets holed up in one-square-foot-prisons that was obviously made without regards to the fact that living creatures actually move. 

The cage is merely a place for them to sleep and eat, so Phichit lets them go free for the majority of the day. The only problem is that Seung-Gil allows his dog the same freedom. It is a tragic truth Phichit still hasn’t learnt to deal with.

It’s not even like he was letting them out of sight. He had been sitting on his bed, skyping with Yuuri when Seung-Gil appeared in his doorway. 

“There’s nothing in the fridge. Should we order something?”

“Shit, I’m sorry. I forgot it was my turn to do groceries this time. I’ll go shopping tomorrow okay?”

“I’ll order pizza then,” Seung-Gil mumbles and exits the room again, leaving the door slightly ajar. If Yuuri hadn’t pointed it out seconds later, Phichit might not had noticed. The thing about Seung-Gil’s dog is that like her owner, she moves around quietly. There’s barely enough time for Phichit to react when she leaps forward at one of Phichit’s unsuspecting hamsters. 

He snatches Salchow off the floor, shoving Jinju away with his leg. Maybe it would have been more effective if she wasn’t a fucking yeti among dogs. She climbs on top of him, beady eyes fixed on the snack in Phichit’s hand.

“SEUNG-GIL GET YOUR FUCKING DOG UNDER CONTROL!” 

Phichit thinks he can hear a dramatic sighs from the other side of the door before Seung-Gil painstakingly slowly drags his sorry ass over to Phichit’s room. He regards the scene with an unamused look, gently whistling in order to get Jinju’s attention.

“Don’t yell, you know she doesn’t like it. And I already told you not to let them run loose.”

“ _ She  _ doesn’t like it? My hamster almost died and your concern is your dog’s hearing. I can’t believe you. That thing almost devoured Salchow whole! She could have died!”

“Jinju could have died choking on your rat, it’s not my fault you can’t keep those pests in their cages where they belong,” Seung-Gil spits, hugging Jinju to his chest. Phichit swears she send him a self-satisfied look, the smug little shit.

“They are not rats! Don’t roll you eyes at me like that, they’re not rats.”  

“Scientifically, they’re in the same family, they’re rats,” Seung-Gil mumbles. Phichit makes a frustrated sound, patting Salchow’s head to comfort her.

“Phichit, I’ll leave you two to it, I think Viktor is calling me anyway,” Yuuri’s voice says from the screen behind him. Phichit flushes as he realise Yuuri just witnessed the fight. Seung-Gil is looking petulantly at the floor, hands caressing Jinju’s thick fur. 

Phichit drags his palm across his face, sighing.“This isn’t working.”

“If you could just keep your hamsters in their cage this wouldn't be a problem.”

“Or you could keep your dog in a cage.”

“You’re being unreasonable”.

“Maybe I should just leave then. See how you can handle living on your own!” 

Seung-Gil’s eyes narrow. It is a look that would have intimidated any other person. A few years ago Phichit might have been fooled, but now he knows for a fact that Seung-Gil is about as scary as a fluffy bunny.

He is also pettier than a fiver year old who just got denied at the toy store. 

The first three days of Seung-Gil holing up in his room doesn’t bother Phichit too much. It means the dog stays with him, and Phichit doesn’t need to fear for his hamsters. 

It grows old rather quickly after that. Like mentioned earlier, Phichit is a very social being. He isn’t used to getting the cold shoulder. In the end, he ends up outside Seung-Gil’s door, more or less begging the other to let him in. It’s a picture perfect  _ frozen _ scenario, except he doubts he would be able to get Seung-Gil to build snowmen with him even if he wasn’t mad.

The door cracks open after a solid fifteen minutes if whining, revealing a dishevelled mess of a person. 

“I thought you wanted to leave,” he mutters, voice chilly. 

“I’m willing to make a compromise.”

Seung-Gil crosses his arms and leans against the door jamb. Phichit notes that he looks like he hasn’t slept for days. Knowing him, he’s been working on something non-stop. It’s an unhealthy coping mechanism, but at least it gets stuff done, so Phichit doesn’t comment on it.

“Tubes.”

“What?”

“Your dog gets to go loose, and my hamsters get to move around the flat, just in tubes. There are many different tube systems on the market. They’re a bit pricey, but if we both invest in it and-”

“How much.”

Phichit shrugs. He didn’t really think that far, not expecting Seung-Gil to agree. He withholds a relieved sigh.

“If we live off junk food for the next three weeks, and we both work all our offered shifts, then maybe we could have it set up by the end of the month.”

Phichit bites his lips nervously as he watches Seung-Gil’s subtle expression display the arguments engaging in a small scale war inside his head. It is almost dizzying to watch knowing that Seung-Gil is most likely running all sorts of calculations and evaluations on just how much the pros outweighs the cons.

It feels like a small eternity has passed when he finally nods.

The Phichit is ready to cheer.

“You're explaining to my coach why I'm trashing her diet plan though.”

Seung-Gil remains impassive when Phichit slumps dramatically at his feet.

* * *

The tube system turns out to be a lot more complicated to assemble than Phichit initially thought. It takes them a total of three days to get it right, breaks not counted. The process’ speed comes down to three factors.

  1. Phichit’s impatience and overall do-before-thinking approach
  2. Seung-Gil being annoyed with said approach, combined with the lack of proper nutrients for the past month
  3. Both of them lacking the ability to read the instructions



In the end, what they get is a slightly lopsided tube system that is a lowkey hazard to anyone clumsy (in other words, Seung-Gil’s metaphorical graph on stubbed toes per unit of time skyrockets the first few days).

Phichit shouldn't enjoy the constipated expression that crosses his friends face every time it happens. He's never considered himself a sadist, but man does he love watching Seung-Gil trip, barely holding back a curse.

The hamsters on the other hand, seem to enjoy running through the tubes. Jinju follows on the outside, enthusiastically watching through the green plastic. 

She has yet to try something fishy, or to be more precise dog-y. 

Phichit keeps an eye on her just in case, but otherwise, it is a good arrangement.

* * *

Until it’s not.

When they comes home to find the tube system wrecked, Phichit’s first reaction is to let out a sound that would put a goat bleating while choking on an avocado to shame. His second reaction is to run over to where Jinju is dozing off contently, and pry her mouth open. She lets out a surprised yelp and wriggles away from him, dark eyes seeking out Seung-Gil who has just entered the flat. To Phichit’s relief there is no evidence that would suggest that one of his hamsters actually ended their lives in Jinju’s jaws. 

Behind him, Seung-Gil is gently scolding Jinju, although the ear-scratches doesn’t really solidify the point. Phichit crosses his arms, glaring at his flatmate. 

“I told you she was out for them.”

“She just wanted to play.”

“Seung-Gil this is  _ serious _ . Oh my god, they’re probably covering in fear somewhere, we need to find them!”

“They have a lifespan of about three years,” Seung-Gil states nonchalantly. Phichit removes the bag of groceries from his friend’s hands, flinging it onto the kitchen counter. 

“And yours will be 20 if I don't find them, start looking!”

Phichit finds Terra underneath his bed. There are scratch marks on the fall from where she must have tried to escape further. The little rodent shivers when he reaches out to her. It takes a good few minutes and some small pieces of carrots to coax her into enter Phichit’s hand. She immediately scuttles into the little house in her cage when Phichit lowers her into it. Seung-Gil returns with Salchow minutes later. Her fur is a bit ruffled but she looks fine otherwise. He can feel panic starting to take over. They still don’t know where Chu went, and the state of Salchow doesn’t do anything to keep his imagination in check.

“What if Jinju swallowed her whole and that’s why there was no blood. Your dog just straight up vored her.”

Seung-Gil grimaces and releases Salchow into the cage. 

“She’s not into that,” Seung-Gil deadpans, shoving the image out of his head.

They both drop to their knees, crawling around on the floor in order to see better. In some ways, it’s like discovering their flat from a new perspective. For instance, Seung-Gil had no idea how much dust had accumulated underneath the worn couch. They really need to do a real cleaning soon. 

They’ve been crawling around for about ten minutes when they hear it. Faint at first, but blatantly obvious when they both stop to listen. The sound of a rodent running across the floor. They both scramble over to the low tv-bench (which is more of a bookshelf since they don't have a tv), crouching down to look underneath it. 

Chu freezes, her small body shivering. They both reach for her at the same time, their heads knocking together. The crash makes Chu flinch, prompting her little rat  brain to send her body scuttering towards the right. Seung-Gil lunges at her with his hand, ignoring the surprised yelp from Phichit. 

Seung-Gil’s hand closes around the little rodent, feeling satisfied when it is squirming in his grip. He turns to hand Chu over to Phichit, surprised to be met by grey eyes only centimeters away from his own, their lips barely touching.

The room is plunged into an awkward silence. It draws out like the time between thunder and lightning, as if the lightning has already struck, and now they’re both anticipating the explosive rumble.

It never comes. Phichit shifts slightly, changing the awkward brush of lips into a proper kiss. Seung-Gil can vaguely sense Chu slipping out of his grip, but all thoughts about hamsters and dogs goes out of the window as Phichit deepens the kiss. 

It’s tragically short; a vast millisecond of sparks igniting Seung-Gil’s neurons at a frightening pace. Seung-Gil is half dazed when Phichit withdraws, his grey eyes uncharacteristically shy.

“Your lips are chapped,” Seung-Gil blurts, his voice sounding like a crumpled paper bag. Phichit’s eyes widen, his tongue darting out to wet them self consciously. Their eyes meet, neither of them quite sure what to do. Seung-Gil is about to lean in again when Phichit spots Chu on the floor, and then proceeds to attempt to clamber over Seung-Gil in order to catch her.

Jinju beats him to it. Seung-Gil is certain he will never forget the inhuman screech that leaves Phichit when her jaws close around the little rodent. The sharp noise makes Jinju cower on the floor, her ears pressed against her skull. She whimpers softly, eyes seeking Seung-Gil for protection.  

For once, he doesn’t try to shrug off her behavior, but musters up his most reprimanding look, which isn’t very reprimanding at all, he’s soft when it comes to dogs. There is a frightening moment when he thinks she won’t get the message, but then she opens her maw and lets Chu go. 

Phichit collapses like a tall building experiencing an earthquake on top of him.

“I swear your dog is going to give me a heart attack one day,” he mumbles into Seung-Gil’s neck.  

“I am… sorry.”

“This will be the end of me. I’m not strong enough.”

Seung-Gil huffs. He knows they should try to find Chu again before Jinju gets any ideas, but the soft warmth of Phichit on top of him makes him want to lie down and just stay down. Whatever boundaries that was between them appears before him like a smudge on a newly washed window. It feels like he’s been set on fire, but for some reason he doesn’t mind burning. He’ll go up in flames, bright and uncontrolled like natrium in water lmao what am i doing.

“If you don’t outlive the rats, I’ll feed them to the dog.” It’s a joking statement, but it has the desired effect. Phichit shoots up, sending him a betrayed look before he sets off in the general direction Chu went. 

Seung-Gil considers going after them, but slumps back on the floor again, deciding that Phichit will be fine. He returns a few minutes later, Chu nestled safely in his hands. 

“About earlier, I’m… I’m sorry. We can forget it if you want to?”

A part of Seung-Gil wants to agree. Pretend that nothing happened. Pretend that he wasn’t ready to drop everything in his hands for the unlikely opportunity the universe had presented him with. 

Phichit twist his hands in his t-shirt, laughing nervously. The sound is as fake as an individually wrapped slice of cheese. 

“May I pet it, the rat?” Seung-Gil asks. It is so stupid, but he's certain any other sentence would have stuck in his throat. A small part of him hopes that Phichit is smart enough to understand his apology. He doesn't really have any interest in the hamsters whatsoever. 

Phichit hesitates for a moment, but brings Chu over. She regards him with angry black eyes, her teeth small knives ready to stab.

Seung-Gil pets her quickly, narrowly avoiding the little monster taking a bite if him.

“All domesticated hamsters descend from a sibling pair. In some ways they’re even more inbred than rats.”

Phichit sighs fondly, hand reaching out to ruffle Seung-Gil’s hair. To the surprise of both of them, Seung-Gil doesn’t protest. 

“Is this your idea of a peace treaty?”

Seung-Gil nods. He shoves his hands into his pockets to keep them from fidgeting. Phichit smiles softly.

“What?” Seung-Gil hopes to whatever deity that his blatant staring doesn't seem too obvious.

“Just thinking,” Phichit replies. “The cons aren't really that bad at all”.


End file.
